Executives from the Huawei ecosystem have left Zeekr, trending on the hot search.

Is it really possible that the news of a car company executive's departure has made it onto the hot search list, considering this person is neither the decision - maker in the top position nor the key technology leader?

Guan Haitao, the former CMO in charge of marketing for the ZEEKR brand and now the CBO of ZEEKR Technology Group, has left the company:

Personnel flow among middle - and high - level employees in the automotive industry occurs almost every day. Especially in the wave of major transformation, both car companies and talents are constantly trying to find their suitable positions.

Why has the departure of the person in charge of marketing for a sub - brand of a car company attracted so much attention?

Guan Haitao Leaves ZEEKR After Two Years of Service

Actually, rumors about Guan Haitao's departure have been circulating in the industry for two months.

It's not groundless. First, the name of Guan Haitao's personal Weibo removed the word "ZEEKR", but his certification still shows him as the CBO of ZEEKR Technology Group.

Second, there's the "ZEEKR Technology Group". Geely's "Taizhou Declaration" officially launched a major internal structural adjustment, reuniting the scattered forces in R & D, channels, brands, etc.

During this wave of adjustments, ZEEKR directly delisted, returned as a sub - brand of Geely, and merged with Lynk & Co. It now belongs to Geely Auto Group and reports to CEO Gan Jiayue. An Conghui, who used to lead ZEEKR, has been promoted to the CEO of Geely Holding Group.

There's a speculation in the outside world that the established ZEEKR Technology Group might be a temporary transitional arrangement. The R & D, channels, marketing and other departments previously independently established by ZEEKR are all facing reshuffling or disbandment.

However, in the past few months, most posts or articles on various platforms about Guan Haitao's departure have been taken down after being complained about, on the grounds of alleged dissemination of false information and infringement of reputation rights:

Now that the dust has settled, Guan Haitao himself confirmed the news of his departure in his WeChat Moments:

Yang Xueliang, the vice - president of Geely Group, gave a "response" in the form of a reply in his WeChat Moments:

Before joining ZEEKR, Guan Haitao was best known for his position as the CMO of Honor, where he was in charge of Honor's marketing for a long time.

Guan Haitao is not the first Huawei - affiliated executive to switch to the automotive industry, but his move from the mobile phone industry to the automotive industry at that time still attracted unprecedented attention:

On the one hand, Guan Haitao had an outstanding track record and was often in the public eye. On the other hand, ZEEKR was the only successful brand transformed from an established car company at that time, and was highly expected by the market and users. People hoped that the Huawei approach combined with Geely's resources would create something different.

In just two years, against the backdrop of Geely's major internal structural adjustment and ZEEKR's delisting and return to the group, Guan Haitao ended his short - term career at ZEEKR.

During his tenure at ZEEKR, Guan Haitao not only achieved results that helped ZEEKR gain popularity and double its sales, but also caused quite a bit of controversy and criticism.

Who is Guan Haitao?

There is no detailed information about Guan Haitao's native place, age, or alma mater in the public domain.

It is only known that in the early stage of his career, he gained experience at Yili and Tencent. In 2018, he joined Huawei Terminal, serving as the deputy director of the marketing department of Honor's business unit and the CMO of the Chinese region.

In January 2021, Guan Haitao was promoted to the head of the e - commerce department of Honor Terminal Co., Ltd. in the Chinese region, taking charge of Honor's e - commerce business.

During his years at Honor, Guan Haitao focused on the e - commerce channel, achieving an average annual growth of over 30% in online channel sales, which became one of the core driving forces for the brand's growth.

This growth also directly drove Honor's market share from 15% to 25%, making it one of the top three domestic mobile phone brands.

Guan Haitao mastered the marketing logic of mass consumer goods in the FMCG field, learned digital operation and user connection in Internet companies, and coordinated e - commerce business in the mobile phone industry. He is a talent who understands both brand communication and the underlying logic of user needs and sales conversion.

This is exactly what ZEEKR, with the original intention of being a "new force and starting a second - round business", needs.

In September 2023, Guan Haitao joined ZEEKR as the CMO. At that time, it was a critical period for ZEEKR's IPO, and good performance was needed as the basis for the IPO.

In terms of sales, in the fourth quarter of 2023, ZEEKR's monthly sales stabilized at over 13,000 units from the previous 12,000 units. In 2024, with the help of major events such as the IPO, ZEEKR's brand sales exceeded 220,000 units, a significant increase of 87%, making it the annual sales champion of Chinese luxury pure - electric brands that year.

It is said that An Conghui has always admired Guan Haitao very much. The speech scripts and PPTs for every new car launch event have gone through Guan Haitao's hands. The language style and approach have become more and more similar to those in the mobile phone industry, and almost every ZEEKR launch event has something to surprise users, such as in - car satellite communication, the co - branding of the 001FR with legendary racing driver Kimi Räikkönen, etc.

On the other hand, as the top person in charge of ZEEKR's marketing, Guan Haitao has also caused quite a bit of controversy.

For example, last year, there was the incident of ZEEKR 001 having "three generations in one year". First, Guan Haitao officially refuted the rumor of the "new 001" in July and even offered a reward, saying that he would give a 7X to anyone who provided clues.

As a result, in August, ZEEKR suddenly launched the 2025 version of the 001, switching the intelligent driving system from the criticized Mobileye to the self - developed Haohan 2.0, and the starting price was even reduced by 10,000 yuan.

This act of "back - stabbing" existing customers had already enraged them, and Guan Haitao's inconsistent statements further infuriated ZEEKR users. Moreover, ZEEKR's compensation plan - a 10,000 - yuan car purchase voucher or free upgrade for un - produced orders - was denounced as a "humiliating remedy" by nearly ten thousand complaining customers.

Another example is the widely - discussed "zero - kilometer used car" incident of ZEEKR this year. Some media reported that ZEEKR used dealers to artificially inflate sales through "company - owned accounts", which triggered disputes over consumer rights and also made the outside world start to question ZEEKR's "sales champion" title in 2024...

After Guan Haitao became the CMO, several products independently planned by ZEEKR, such as the MIX, 007, and 009 Guanghui, all failed to meet expectations.

All these have led to speculation in the outside world that they are related to Guan Haitao's departure...

Back then, the ZEEKR 001 was an instant hit when it was launched, popularizing the concepts of "handling" and "performance" to young Chinese users for the first time and accumulating a large number of loyal fans. In fact, it was a rare strong player in the highly competitive Chinese automotive market.

Perhaps it's because of the high expectations. After that, a series of unsuccessful models and user - unfriendly operations by ZEEKR, whether Guan Haitao was really the first person responsible or not, users always blamed him:

During his two - year tenure at ZEEKR, Guan Haitao had both achievements and controversies.

In events such as model replacement and new product launches, from a common - sense perspective, Guan Haitao, as the person in charge of marketing, was most likely just an executor rather than a decision - maker.

But in an era that values the IP of founders and bosses, since the top person at ZEEKR didn't take the lead, the top person in marketing had to step forward.

In this way, he might not always get the credit, but he would surely take the blame.

Only time can tell whether the netizens' comments are fair.

From another perspective, when Guan Haitao joined ZEEKR, it marked the beginning of the trend of Huawei - affiliated executives moving into the automotive industry.

For example, after Guan Haitao joined, ZEEKR also introduced Chen Qi, the former head of Huawei's autonomous driving technology, to build ZEEKR's self - developed team. Now, he has become the chief scientist of Geely Group.

Even earlier, Li Auto invited Xie Yan as its CTO, Zou Liangjun as the vice - president in charge of sales, and He Liyang directly became the president of Seres...

Even now, former Huawei - affiliated executives are still constantly entering the intelligent vehicle battlefield. For example, Jiang Hairong, also from Honor, took over as the CEO of Deepal, and Wang Jun, the first CEO of Huawei's Vehicle BU, joined Qianli Technology under Geely as its CEO...

When Huawei entered the automotive industry, the waves it created were not only felt in the technology and user aspects. The "Huawei methodology" has gradually become a highly - sought - after and followed approach in the automotive industry.

Talents from Huawei have naturally become a direct means that car companies hope will yield immediate results.

Most car companies may need a Huawei